Round 3 Feature Match: Brian Ahle Versus Joseph Herman

April 7th, 2013

This is local Duelist Joseph Herman’s fifth YCS! A native of Los Angeles, Herman played in the 100th YCS at Long Beach one year ago. His opponent this round is Brian Ahle, a veteran of the Dragon Duel circuit who’s now stepped up to the main event scene. Who would win? Let’s find out!

Herman opened up with a Set monster, and a Set Spell or Trap.

Ahle had ToonGeminiElf; DUCKERMobileCannon; SnowmanEater; NightmareWheel; ExarionUniverse; and Burden of the Mighty. He Summoned Exarion but lost out to TorrentialTribute: Herman destroyed his own LevelEater. Ahle Set Wheel.

Herman Summoned Krebons and attacked for a quick 1200 Battle Damage.

Ahle drew InverseUniverse and Set SnowmanEater.

Herman activated SoulExchange, Tributing the Snowman to Summon AmbitiousGofer. He turned Krebons to Defense Position, then attacked into NightmareWheel. “Where’s a Synchro when you need one?” Herman Set a card to his back row.

Ahle drew MetalReflectSlime, and Herman took 500 damage for the Wheel. Ahle Set DUCKER and and Slime.

Herman Set another monster.

Ahle drew BattleFader and dished out another 500 damage. He Flip Summoned DUCKER to get back his ExarionUniverse, then Normal Summoned it. He attacked Krebons with DUCKER. Herman defended Krebons with its effect, then dropped Ahle to 5000 Life Points, flipping MagicCylinder when Ahle attacked with Exarion. “Go ahead.”

Herman flipped Harpie’sFeatherDuster, destroying NightmareWheel and MetalReflectSlime. He then Tributed his Krebons, Gofer, and Set Wind-Up Soldier to Summon… ObelisktheTormentor!

Herman had one card left in hand, while Ahle had four, with DUCKER and Exarion on the field. Herman sent Obelisk to attack over Exarion, punching home 2200 Battle Damage and dropping Ahle to 2800 Life Points.

Ahle drew EgoBoost and tried to figure out how to get over Obelisk. He had InverseUniverse, BattleFader, ToonGeminiElf, and BurdenoftheMighty. He Set InverseUniverse and changed DUCKER to Defense Position.

Ahle drew HalforNothing. He thought for a while, then Normal Summoned ToonGeminiElf. He activated Burden of the Mighty and Set everything else to his back row.

Herman Summoned Breaker the Magical Warrior and used its effect to destroy BurdenoftheMighty. He sent Obelisk to attack ToonGeminiElf, and Ahle flipped HalforNothing. Herman chose to halve the ATK of his monsters instead of ending the Battle Phase, but that allowed Ahle to Chain EgoBoost! After a brief consultation with Judges, it was determined that Ahle would have a chance to Chain EgoBoost, and Obelisk crashed into ToonGeminiElf! Obelisk hit the graveyard, and Herman had to discard his HardenedArmedDragon, his last card from his hand! Suddenly the tables had turned! Herman attacked with Breaker to destroy BattleFader, then overlaid Breaker and Strawberry for Number 39: Utopia. He had nothing but Utopia left.

Ahle drew DamageGate, with ToonGeminiElf on the field and InverseUniverse still set. The Duel stood at 2800 Life Points to 5300, with Herman still leading. Ahle Set Gate.

Ahle drew and Summoned DoomcaliberKnight, attacking with it… into Utopia. “I lost my train of thought,” explained Ahle. He ran his Gem Knight at Utopia, and Herman flipped PowerFrame to negate the attack! Utopia went to 2600 ATK.

Herman played PotofDuality to reveal SkillSuccessor and two copies of MaskofDarkness from his Deck: he added Successor to his hand.

Ahle drew MetalReflectSlime. He attacked Herman’s Set GraveProtector with Gem-Knight Pearl, destroying it, and then Set the Slime.

Herman Set a monster.

Ahle drew Harpie’sFeatherDuster and activated it, destroying PowerFrame and Successor! He activated Reflect Slime and Tributed it for CyberDragon, then attacked Utopia, first with Pearl, then Cyber Dragon, destroying Utopia. CyberDragon attacked to destroy GraveSquirmer on the replay, which Herman used to destroy Pearl in turn.

Ahle drew NeedleCeiling and attacked again: Herman flipped ForbiddenLance to drop CyberDragon to 1300 Life Points, keeping his ShineKnight on the field when the Dragon flipped it over. Ahle took 600 Battle Damage, then flipped DamageGate to bring out SnowmanEater in Defense Position! In Main Phase 2, he banished Snowman and ShineKnight with DifferentDimensionGate, then Set his last card to his back row.

Herman activated Fiend’sSanctuary to Special Summon a MetalFiendToken, then Tributed it for BlowbackDragon! He activated its effect, and flipped tails… another tails… and there was no need to attempt the third flip. The effect failed. Herman attacked with BlowbackDragon, and Ahle responded with Inverse Universe. Herman misplayed, Chaining his SkillSuccessor to accomplish nothing, since the ATK and DEF numbers were still reversed by Inverse Universe as the Chain resolved. Blowback slammed into CyberDragon and was destroyed.

Ahle drew Tour Guide from the Underworld and Summoned it, and Herman conceded as Ahle Special Summoned GravityOrb from his Deck!

Brian Ahle takes an incredible back-and-forth competition in the first Duel, overcoming Obelisk the Tormentor with a combo of HalforNothing and EgoBoost and then grinding out the win! Joseph Herman is handicapped by forgetfulness: he had LevelEater in his Graveyard the entire game, and forgot to Special Summon it.

Herman opened the second Duel with a Set monster.

Ahle had EgoBoost; CaiustheShadowMonarch; TourGuidefromtheUnderworld; MetalReflectSlime; ExarionUniverse; and Yaksha. A promising hand! He Summoned Exarion and attacked, using its effect and taking 600 Battle Damage as Exarion bounced off GraveProtector. Ahle Set Ego Boost and ReflectSlime.

Herman activated BaitDoll, forcing the activation of MetalReflectSlime! Bait Doll backfired, and Ahle Special Summoned the Slime! A wasted card for Herman would make this Duel a little tougher. He Set a second monster, digging in.

Herman drew to five cards in hand, Setting a backrow and Summoning Krebons.

Ahle drew BeastKingBarbaros. He Normal Summoned Yaksha to bounce Herman’s back-row card, then attacked with Caius and Yaksha. Herman paid Life Points to keep Krebons on the field.

Herman Set two cards to his back row, then Summoned SlateWarrior.

Ahle bounced a Set card with Yaksha again, then attacked Slate Warrior with Caius: Herman negated the attack with PowerFrame, and Yaksha attacked Krebons again. Herman paid to protect it.

Herman Set a monster, then turned Krebons to Defense Position. He Set a Spell or Trap again, and attacked with SlateWarrior into Caius. Ahle flipped EgoBoost to win the battle!

Ahle drew DoomcaliberKnight and Summoned Yaksha, clearing the way yet again. He continued to press on Krebons with Yaksha and Caius. Herman dropped to 3000 Life Points. Ahle returned Yaksha to his hand.

Herman drew to four cards in hand and Tributed his Set LevelEater for VampireLord! He Special Summoned back LevelEater, and ran VampireLord over Caius, which was now sitting at 1900 ATK thaks to SlateWarrior’s effect: Caius was destroyed. Herman called Spells with VampireLord’s ability and Ahle sent DifferentDimensionGate from his Deck to his Graveyard. Herman Set two cards to his Spell and Trap Card Zone.

Ahle drew NeedleCeiling! It was live, since he controlled MetalReflectSlime, while Herman had LevelEater, VampireLord, and Krebons! He Summoned Yaksha to bounce a backrow card, then swung at Krebons: But Herman had MagicCylinder! Ahle dropped to 5400 Life Points and Set NeedleCeiling, taking back his Yaksha.

Herman Tributed all three of his monsters for ObelisktheTormentor! He Special Summoned LevelEater in Defense Positon, then swung over MetalReflectSlime. He Set one card to his back row.

Herman attacked with HardenedArmedDragon next turn and Set a second backrow.

Abhle drew and activated Harpie’sFeatherDuster, destroying Herman’s TorrentialTribute and OfferingstotheDoomed. He Special Summoned CyberDragon, Tributed it for Raiza the Storm Monarch, and spun away HardenedArmedDragon! He made a direct attack, and a turn later he won the Match with Raiza and DoomcaliberKnight!

Brian Ahle beats Obelisk the Tormentor not once but twice, earning himself a 2-0 victory!